The Strangers (2008)
The Strangers is a 2008 American horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino and starring Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Glenn Howerton, Gemma Ward, Laura Margolis and Kip Weeks. The film revolves around a young couple (Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) who are terrorized by three masked assailants, who break into the remote summer home and destroy all means of escape or calling for help by destroying their car, cell phones, and phoneline. Marketed as "inspired by true events", writer and director Bryan Bertino stated that the film was inspired by a series of break-ins that occurred in his neighborhood as a child, as well as some incidents that occurred during the Manson killings. The film begins in medias res with a recorded 911 call where a boy screams that he and his friend found two bodies lying in blood in an old vacation house. Kristen McKay and James Hoyt arrive at a remote summer vacation house owned by James's parents after attending a friend'swedding reception. James had proposed to Kristen there, but she refused, saying she wasn't ready to make this big step. James calls his friend Mike to come pick him up in the morning. Shortly after 4 a.m., a young blonde woman, whose face is obscured by low lighting, knocks on the front door asking for Tamara. When James and Kristen tell her she is at the wrong house, she asks if they're sure, and leaves shortly after. A short while later, James leaves to get Kristen some cigarettes. Not long after, Kristen hears another knock on the door; the same woman has returned to ask for Tamara again. Kristen refuses to open up. During the following minutes, she hears strange noises, and her cellphone goes missing. As her fear grows, she eventually hears a noise from the back door, grabs a large kitchen knife and opens the curtains, to find a man wearing a sack mask staring back at her. Panicked, she hides in the bedroom until James returns. When she warns him of what just transpired, James investigates. He finds his car has been ransacked and the blonde woman, now wearing a doll mask, watching him from afar. He also finds that his phone has had its battery stolen and realizes the house has been breached. The couple attempt to leave in James' car, but a third stranger in a pin-up girl mask drives a truck into his car, totaling it and forcing them to flee back inside. Kristen and James find a shotgun and take refuge in a room. Soon after, Mike arrives early and is accidentally shot by James, mistaking him for an intruder. Devastated, James nevertheless remembers an old radio transmitter in the backyard shed. He leaves the house and encounters and attempts to shoot Pin-Up Girl, but is ambushed by the masked man. Kristen hears a shot and decides to make a run for the shed. There, she finds the radio, which she uses to try and contact someone for help, but Pin-Up Girl appears and smashes the radio, so Kristen flees back to the house. There, Kristen is confronted by Dollface, who is now armed with a knife. The masked man arrives with the captured James and the gun and incapacitates Kristen. James and Kristen wake up the next day and find themselves tied to chairs in the living room. The strangers remove their masks and take turns slowly stabbing them before finally leaving. Two young religious boys who are distributing religious tracts pass by them and arrive at the house, finding the totaled car and the door open. The boys head into the house and discovers the bodies. When one of them investigates, Kristen, who is still alive, wakes up and screams.